1. Technical Field of the Invention
The invention relates to means for the rapid removal of valuables from their place of storage in cases of emergency. In particular, the invention relates to a liner for a storage container in which valuables are stored. The liner converting to a transport carrier permitting the near instant removal of the valuables from a storage container and transport of these valuables away from the storage site. Typically, the invention relates to an open top, flexible carrier which conforms to the interior of the drawer as a liner thereof. Valuables stored within the drawer may be removed with the liner and carried away in the liner.
2. Prior Background Art
Tragedies make headlines. Frequently these headlines describe disasters caused by earth quakes, hurricanes, fire, flood, tornado and the like. Often persons have warning of impending disaster and must rush to remove valuables from their homes and offices to take them from harms way. At other times disaster strikes so that there is no time to salvage valuables. However, in such cases authorities often allow persons to reenter buildings for rapid salvage purposes. Such an instance would be after an earthquake when the knowledge that aftershocks will follow encourages persons to reenter houses endangered or slightly damaged by the initial quake to secure and remove valuables.
It should be noted that in referring to "valuables," the term is intended to cover items of intrinsic value as well as items which were only valuable in the subjective appraisal provided by the owner. Thus, items such as family photo albums, inexpensive jewelry that belonged to ancestors or parents, and items associated with personal experiences such as engagements, weddings, birth of children, and the like are deemed to be "valuables" herein. Valuables also include items such as computer files, important documents such as birth and marriage certificates, certificates of ownerships of automobiles and deeds of homes. In cases of emergency, valuables may well include the necessary clothing, medication, and toiletries to be used in the days immediately following a disaster.
In disaster stories printed in publications persons stricken by disaster often lament more the loss of family photographs and other items of sentimental value than they do the destruction of their home. The home after all is frequently covered by insurance; and a new home may be built. But a sentimental keepsake or other personal item is generally irreplaceable.
Ask a person where they store their valuables. You may hear comments such as, "Well, my personal papers, insurance policies, automobile registrations, birth certificates, things like that, I keep in the bottom drawer of my dresser. We've got all our family photos in the drawer of the end table in our living room. And, I keep all of my computer files on the support shelf in the cabinet just under my computer." Were there to be an impending disaster requiring evacuation of that person from his premises and the immediate area, he would have to pack the various documents from the lower drawer of his dresser, gather up the photos from the drawer of the end table in the living room, and package the various computer documents from the shelf in the cabinet under his computer. To find something to package this material, to actually go through the act of packaging it, and then to carry the materials out to the car might consume valuable time which would be better utilized in distancing that person from the site of the impending disaster.
It is an objective of the invention to provide the means whereby a person may find his valuables virtually packaged for evacuation and transport at all times and yet be readily accessible for use under normal circumstances.